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The MMQB's editor-in-chief, Peter King, discussed his conversation with the Patriots' owner, and Kraft's thoughts about Deflategate and the punishment his team received

MAGGIE GRAY:You've described the relationship between [NFL commissioner] Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft as being like Obama and Putin right now. If these two have a fracture in their relationship, could it have a ripple effect leaguewide?

PETER KING: I've heard people say that Kraft could get a cadre of owners to challenge Goodell. I don't see it. When your own ox is gored, you're furious. But does the owner of the Falcons or the Cowboys put his arm around Kraft and say, Let's take down Goodell? I think most owners have the feeling that the Patriots did something, and we're going to let the league handle it.

MG:What is Kraft, specifically, so mad about: the fine, the draft picks or the fact that his team is embroiled in yet another cheating scandal?

PK: He's upset about the process. He doesn't think that the Wells Report has proved what it set out to prove. He believes that the league is operating on innuendo and, in short, that the penalty absolutely does not fit the crime.

MG:To what lengths do you think Kraft will go to defend Tom Brady and his team?

PK: I'm sure that he's still thinking about going rogue despite the bylaws of the NFL, which say that an owner cannot go outside the league to challenge a decision. Kraft is a conciliatory person. He's not one of these guys who wants to bash heads with people. Right now I would guess that he won't go Al Davis and get a lawyer and sue the NFL to overturn this penalty.

For more on Deflategate, plus the SI Now archive, go to SI.com/video

"[Tom Brady] has never lied to me, and I have found no hard or conclusive evidence to the contrary."

—Robert Kraft

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